Shangri-La

Shangri-La...a "place of complete bliss, delight, and peace". That's the name of this little fairy tale land in the North Carolina country between Hillsborough and Yanceyville. Henry Warren, a retired tobacco farmer, spent the last years of his life constructing his own "place of bliss" out of stones he excavated from his Caswell County farm, and when he passed away in 1977 he had constructed a village of 27 buildings including a hotel, church, and theater. If you're in the area, it's well worth the detour. A stone marker in front of Shangri-La bears an inscription taken from the poem, "The House By the Side of the Road" by Sam Walter Foss: "Let me live in a house by the side of the road and be a friend to man."